Evening Standard

Norman Baker
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the Secretary of State absented himself from the decision on whether to issue an intervention notice under the Enterprise Act 2002 in the case of the proposed sale of the London Evening Standard to Alexander Lebedev.

Mr. Thomas
[holding answer 20 April 2009]: No. Decisions about issuing an intervention on public interest grounds fall to be taken by my right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State as provided for in Section 42 of the Enterprise Act 2002. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 29 January 2009, Official Report, column reference 762W, to the hon. Member for Croydon, South (Richard Ottaway) which noted that my right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State had no plans to issue an intervention notice on public interest grounds in this case.